


Who Guards the Power Guards?

by biqua



Series: Complex [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Body Horror, Class Quest, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jedi Knight Storyline, Planet: Nar Shaddaa, Quest: The Power Guard Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 05:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4694363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biqua/pseuds/biqua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jedi Knight Nahin has been trailing Agent Galen on his search for the Power Guard project, the third such project to be compromised by the Imperials. But Galen isn't the only familiar face she hasn't seen since Coruscant--she can't stop thinking about the SpecForce Lieutenant who helped her rescue Kira.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Guards the Power Guards?

**Author's Note:**

> There is (currently) no relation between Badri Emras and Nahin Emras. Each changed their last name for separate reasons, but neither of them were born with the name Emras.

It was Agent Galen.

Covered in cybernetics that hadn't been there the last time Nahin had seen him.

"You shouldn't have come here," he said. His voice was hollow, robotic. It sounded more like a droid than a man. Galen continued, "He'll make me hurt you. He already forced me to give up my fellow agents. Now they're all dead."

"Agent Galen?" Kira asked before Nahin could get her thoughts together. The Padawan always spoke first and thought later. "What happened to you?"

"When I resist, the pain... he always wins," Galen continued as if he didn't hear Kira. Or didn't understand her.

"I'll break his control over you, I promise," Nahin swore, already looking around for some method of control. The holocom next to Galen flickered to life as Lord Sadic was projected into the room. 

"Too late," Galen said, "he's here." 

"Nothing more irritating than a Jedi who won't die," Sadic commented. "Your constant interruptions must end. Your former ally will be your executioner," he said with a gesture towards Galen, "The new Agent Galen's power is matched only by his obedience."

Nahin could feel Galen's anger, Kira's surprised rage, her own rising—hatred? No, she couldn't let that surface. She pushed it back down, instead latching on to Galen's easy emotion. "Face me yourself—or are you scared you'll end up like Tarnis?" she challenged the holo.

"Tarnis was a child, like you," Sadic spat. "Beneath me. Galen, destroy my enemy," he said, almost bored.

"No," Galen spat back. "I'd rather die."

"Control factor six initiated," Sadic said calmly, reaching over for a control out of frame.

Nahin shut her mind so quickly she nearly threw up. A wave of pain came over Galen; he screamed, raging against his body.

"Neural override complete," said Sadic. Nahin wanted nothing more than to have him here, where she could face the coward directly and could... "Launching elimination protocol. Target: Jedi."

"I told you," Galen said mournfully, taking up an offensive stance. "He always wins."

***

Nahin held her blows back, tempering them to keep from killing the Agent. He was still in there, somewhere, fighting to get out. She just had to help him a little from the outside. She hoped Kira understood that.

"Stop!" Galen exclaimed after a particularly nasty blow from Kira knocked him to the ground. Nahin held an arm—and a lightsaber—in front of the Padawan to keep her from continuing. "I'm... I'm in control... All that damage you did finally spread to the neural overrides," the Agent explained. Nahin's stomach twisted at the mention of those hideous devices. Controlling a person through their brain was sickening.

"Only temporary, though," Galen said with a pointed look. "I can already feel my systems repairing themselves."

"Tell me how to free you from the Sith's control." Nahin knelt down beside him.

"Can't remove the machines without killing me, but I don't matter anymore," Galen panted. "The Sith—Lord Sadic—has the Republic's Mark Three Power Guards. Cybernetically enhanced soldiers armed with advanced weapons. Sadic plans to build hundreds more, all controlled by him. An army to conquer Nar Shaddaa."

"I doubt the Hutts will take that without a fight," Nahin said, surprised at the turn of events. She had figured that Sadic's eventual plan had to do with attacking the Republic directly, or maybe his rival Sith. The neutral Hutts seemed an odd target.

"The Hutts are cowards," Galen spat. "In the end, they'll surrender to save their fat hides. Sadic's building his army in Shadow Town," he persisted, always looping back to the mission. He was dying, dammit!  _He shouldn't be talking!_ —but Nahin didn't have the heart to stop him yet. "Imperial controlled sector. Nastiest people on Nar Shaddaa, and that's saying a lot. I'll give you the coordinates—"

He cut himself off with a violent scream of pain. "Neural overrides restarting," he hissed between teeth clenched to keep from screaming. "There's nothing else to do—kill me."

"There must be a way to free you," Nahin insisted. "Give me time to defeat Sadic."

"Free me?" Galen almost laughed. "From this? Even without Sadic controlling me, I won't live like this."

"I'm sorry, but I can't kill you," Nahin repeated, standing up. She would  _not_.

"Blast your Jedi morals!" he yelled, an echo of a scream resounding in his voice. "I'm a threat—to you, to the Republic! If you won't do what's right, I'll do it myself!" He moved to get up.

"No!" Nahin yelled, pushing him back down. "I won't let you! You are going to stay here, and I'm going to call for help, and you are going to go with them when they arrive and let them take care of you."

"What are you doing this for?" he yelled at her. Suddenly, understanding flickered in his mind. "I see. You're thinking of that Lieutenant—that cyborg boyfriend of yours."

_Lieutenant Emras?_  Nahin thought, panicked.  _How_ — _?_  "He's not—I'm not—" she stuttered.

"You don't understand what I am. I'm not that type of cyborg who is still mostly human," he growled. "I'm not the kind that can be redeemed. Ask your pretty boyfriend what he thinks, the next time you see him. He'll know I'm right."

Nahin was still recovering from  _boyfriend?_  when he got up. Kira moved first, so Kira was the first one he knocked back down. Nahin moved slower, still trying to bring him down carefully, but it was a mistake. He took her out in two hits, a well-aimed punch to the stomach knocking the air out of her lungs. She fell to the ground, but Galen left them there and made his way to the exit.

"Beg the stars you don't see me again," said Galen, turning once more to her as he left.

"I don't like the sound of that, Kira said as she stood up, dusting off her robes. "We'd better hurry and find this base."

***

"Don't look so surprised," Special Agent Tander drawled. "It's our job to follow people."

Nahin certainly was surprised by the appearance of the two agents that had left their last meeting rather coldly. Nahin had been under the impression that Tander was going to pull out of Nar Shaddaa altogether, against Diyaz's objections if necessary. Yet, here they were, at her back, deep in the heart of enemy territory. With reinforcements to boot. Nahin could have hugged him now, but she pegged him as an anti-touchy-feely type. She also figured he would object to the blood she would probably stain his uniform with if she touched him right now.

"Agent Diyaz planted a tracker on you back at headquarters," he explained, as casually as if there wasn't a dead Sith on the floor between them. Which there was. Nahin was finding it rather distracting, actually. Sadic's corpse still radiated darkness, and she was starting to feel queasy despite having her mind firmly shut to outside emotions.

"Standard operating procedure," Diyaz added quickly, "No offence intended." Not that any had been taken, but Nahin would let him have his moment of relief in the explanation. They had bigger problems.

"Would've been here sooner, but getting into Imperial territory without a lightsaber is complicated," Tander continued, ignoring the interruption.

"Hope you have a plan for getting out," Nahin said nervously.

"Leaving's the easy part," Tander said. "We'll have a nice big diversion." He waved his hand at his reinforcements behind him. Their commander took a step forward into the light, to reveal a very familiar face.

"Badri!" Nahin exclaimed, excitement temporarily overcoming protocol. "I mean, Lieutenant!" she corrected hastily, carefully ignoring Kira's snort of amusement. The Padawan would not get to her. He smiled, and her heart skipped a beat.

"Master Nahin," Lieutenant Emras acknowledged.

"I guess you know Havoc Squad," Tander said, eyeing the two of them curiously. Nahin could have sworn he exchanged a look with Kira, but she couldn't imagine what he had gotten out of it. "The rest of them are Blackstar Squad. General Var Suthra pulled in a favor with General Garza. Got them here quick. One Special Operations team is quite the distraction, two is overkill."

"Well, we were in the neighborhood," the Lieutenant said. "Figured we could stop by and lend a hand, and we picked up a few like-minded folks on the way. Blackstar will stay on route with your team, while Havoc will peel off before we leave Shadow Town for our mission. With any luck, our 'distraction' will accomplish Havoc's goal, while you keep their forces on alert so they don't pile on us like rats. Win-win in my book."

"We're demolishing this location," Tander told him, "that'll keep them checking their backs. Make sure the enemy can't recover anything useful," he instructed his team. Lieutenant Emras motioned the SpecForce troops to join them in the demolition.

"Sir, I've located the Power Guard files," Diyaz called from his console. "Including notes on how the Sith controlled them. Orders?" he asked.

"That technology is too horrible to exist," Nahin said before Tander had a chance to give his opinion. "Erase the data."

She caught Lieutenant Emras giving her a questioning glance.  _What was going on?_  he wondered. Nahin shook her head, hoping it would get her message across. Sorry, classified. Nothing personal. He shrugged, but there was no malice behind it: he was no stranger to classified ops.  _No worries_. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Agent Tander sighed. "I disagree, but I'm ready to be done with this," he conceded. "Go ahead, Agent Diyaz." He turned to Nahin and Kira. "You should check in with General Var Suthra. We'll be right behind you. Just need to plant the incendiary charges. Havoc will go with you for the first leg. Blackstar will stay behind with us."

Nahin nodded. It was a good plan, and she wanted out of this pit. The despair of this place was starting to work its way in even while her mind was closed.

"Thank you for everything, Agent Tander," she said, giving him a slight bow.

"It was interesting working with you," he said in what Nahin felt was all honesty. "Good luck."

***

The Lieutenant pulled Nahin over, and they crouched down behind an overturned speeder bike to catch their breath. Kira was half-collapsed two meters away behind a trash receptacle; Sergeant Jorgan, Lieutenant Emras's second, was waiting silently behind the bowl of a plant holo; Sergeant Dorne, Havoc's medic, was just out of her sightline. All of them were breathing heavily, including Nahin herself. She could feel the Lieutenant's breath, strangely even but much faster than her own, and the darkness that lurked in him felt more pronounced as she leaned against his chest. From her vantage on the ground she could only see the side of his face, the eyepatch dominating most of his profile. Agent Galen's words came back to her unbidden as she struggled to remind herself that he was  _not_  her boyfriend, sarcastic or not.

_"Ask your pretty boyfriend what he thinks."_

Because the Lieutenant  _was_  a cyborg, right? He could help Agent Galen, right? He didn't agree with the Agent, didn't feel the same way about his cybernetics, didn't want to...

Right?

Or was she completely wrong? Nahin didn't know anything about the Lieutenant, really. She didn't even know what his cybernetics were. That band didn't seem to have a purpose at first glance, but there had to be  _some_  reason for it. And the patch, she suspected that it hid a cybernetic eye, but why would he hide it? She doubted that those were his only cybernetics: for the band to make sense, there had to be something more. She just didn't know, and this was her last chance to ask anything before Havoc Squad split from her and Kira.

"Lieutenant Emras," she started hesitantly, "have you ever... tried to take you own life?"

He looked down at her, surprise evident. She hadn't been planning to ask that specific question, but she found it on the tip of her tongue when she finally spoke. That was what Agent Galen had wanted to do, and that was what she had to stop. There was a sharp pain of—of  _something_ —that Nahin felt from the lieutenant. It was suppressed as soon as it came, but that residual darkness still lingered around him.

"Where did this come from?" he asked her. Not answering the question, she noted.

"I—Someone said something recently," she fumbled, remembering too late that the Power Guard project was supposed to be classified. "It got me thinking, that's all."

"Agent Galen, right?" he asked. He knew.

"Yes," she admitted. The Lieutenant sighed.

"What you have to understand, sir, is that there are two types of cyborgs," he said, adding back in the honorific she had  _asked him to drop how many times now?_  Certainly enough that he should have remembered. Nahin calmed herself and let him continue, "The first choose to install their enhancements, for a variety of reasons: some to improve their performance, some to compensate for disabilities or injuries, and some for the power, or for less noble reasons. The second category are not given the choice to become what they are. They become cyborgs without giving consent, through life-threatening emergencies, enemy action, or the like. Agent Galen would be the second type."

"And you?" she asked. She was split fifty-fifty on the answer. On one hand, he  _must_  have known, how could he have not? He didn't—he  _couldn't_  have as many cybernetics as Agent Galen. But on the other hand—

There was a sudden noise behind them: both Nahin and the Lieutenant turned around to look. Nothing visible, but the likelihood that there was really nothing was quite slim.

—On the other hand, that darkness had to come from somewhere. He was keeping something locked up deep inside himself, and there had to be a reason. If he had—if his body had been changed similar to how Agent Galen's had been, than maybe that's what he was holding. If that was true, than there  _was_  hope. The Lieutenant could help Galen.

Assuming, of course, that Lieutenant Emras was stable enough to do so.

He was, right?

Her mind was racing now, the possibilities not even fully formed before they were extrapolated, pushed to their furthest limits and somewhere out of her reach. Each possibility lead somewhere different, but as they kept going, they seemed to get worse and worse. What if they were the same? What if Emras agreed with the Agent? What if that darkness was—? It was his voice that finally broke the spell.

"I..." the Lieutenant whispered, still turned away from her, "was never given a choice."

Nahin floundered as her mind went into overdrive.  _It was true._  "But then—"

"Once," he said abruptly.

"What?" she asked, startled out of her thoughts again. Her imagination shut down as it tried to comprehend his words.

"I tried to kill myself. Once."

Before she could say anything, he pulled out his gun and shot twice in the direction of the noise. A rank-and-file Imp rolled out from behind the debris, shooting wildly but missing Nahin and the Lieutenant completely. The fight drove them away, and Havoc Squad—and the Lieutenant—were gone before Nahin could ask him anything else.

***

"Agent Galen!" Nahin exclaimed, running towards the injured cyborg. Havoc Squad had already arrived at the spaceport; Nahin guessed that Blackstar Squad had already left before she had arrived. Lieutenant Emras was watching with some bemusement as Sergeant Dorne attempted to bind Sergeant Jorgan's apparently-broken arm, but the Lieutenant turned towards Nahin as she approached, leaving his second to fend off the medic by himself. Special Agent Tander and his team were busy trying to debrief Agent Galen, who seemed to welcome the distraction that Nahin brought. They backed off—to compile notes, no doubt—as she approached, leaving the agent some much-needed personal space.

Agent Galen was leaning heavily on a set of crutches and had an awful lot of bandages, but seemed to be healing well already. Nahin wondered if his healing was augmented because of the cybernetics, but she knew much better than to ask him.

"You again," he said with an ironic half-laugh. "It figures that you would turn up."

"You're alive!" Nahin said happily.

"So it seems," he said dryly. "Despite my best effort. I take it you're done here? Did you destroy the files?" he asked.

"Yes," Nahin said, "and yes. Everything is gone, thank the stars. Where are you headed?" she asked in return.

"They're sending me to Coruscant. There are several cybernetic specialists there who have experience in... this sort of manner. I guess they plan to leave me at their mercy."

There was a quickly stiffled laugh from beside her: Nahin was surprised to look over and find the Lieutenant suppressing his laughter.

"Do you find this amusing, Lieutenant?" Agent Galen asked coldly. Nahin suppressed her own physical shudder at his raw anger.

"I wish you luck, sir, in your time on Coruscant," Lieutenant Emras said, just barely holding on to his straight face, "seeing as I imagine you'll be seeing a Doctor Le'eth at some point while you're planetside," he explained. Nahin felt that it wasn't much of an explanation, and Galen didn't seem to care.

There was a long moment between the two cyborg officers. Their emotions were so guarded that Nahin couldn't pick up anything, but she knew that something passed between them, because when Galen next spoke it seemed out of the blue from her view as a bystander.

"Are you pitying me, Lieutenant?" Galen demanded quietly.

"Not pity, sir," the Lieutenant responded, his mirth now completely vanished. "Empathy."

Agent Galen stared him down. Nahin could name three soldiers off the top of her head who would have wilted if their superior had given them that look, but the Lieutenant seemed unphased. Galen hissed back, "And on what claim do you base that feeling?"

"Incident Zeta Kappa, sir. Coruscant Four."

The string of words made no sense to Nahin, but it changed Galen's entire demeanor. He took a step back as if he had been hit, almost staggering back upright as he pulled on his crutches. The Lieutenant didn't shift at all, his face carefully blank of all emotion. Galen was looking at him in horror and curiosity, as if his words had pulled off some mask the Lieutenant had been wearing, allowing the Agent to see him clearly for the first time. The hostility that had offset Nahin only moments earlier turned to—was that  _anger?_  Why was Galen angry, and at what? But it was gone a moment later in a flash of sudden understanding, then replaced by Galen's own fear, and a softer, more subtle understanding and sympathy. If only Nahin understood what he had realized, this would have been much easier to comprehend.

Nahin almost stumbled back as well, but for a different reason. The darkness in the Lieutenant had multiplied in seconds, and she was finally able to recognize the emotion. It was hatred, pure and simple. She couldn't make out who it was for, or where it was directed, but it was strong. Not as strong as the Sith, and it was weak enough that Lord Sadic's darkness had been able to mask it completely. Yet there was a hidden edge to it that disturbed her. Even this almost overwhelming hatred, enough to become a physical force in of itself, felt like the tip of some iceberg hidden beneath the waves. She bit back her reaction, letting the two cyborgs work out their new understanding of each other.

"In that case, you have my empathy as well." Agent Galen nodded to the Lieutenant, who gave him a brief nod back. Galen turned to Nahin, and said, "I hope when I next see you it will be under much better circumstances."

"I do as well," Nahin said gratefully, taking in a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

***

The silence in the shuttle to the orbital station was odd—not awkward, not quite. Still, Nahin felt as if she should be full of words to say, and came up with nothing coherent at all. Her imagination hadn't dared to start imagining again, not after what Lieutenant Emras had said. The darkness in the Lieutenant had not calmed since their meeting with Agent Galen, and it was starting to stifle Nahin.

"It was a medical necessity."

Nahin looked over at Lieutenant Emras. He was turned away from her, staring intently out at the stars. "What was?" she asked, worried that she had been so out of it that she had missed some conversation.

"These," he explained with an offhand sweeping gesture at his face. No, at the band. His cybernetics.

"Our ship was shot down over enemy territory," he continued. "My injuries were... extensive, to say the least. Without cybernetics, there was nothing that could be done, so they did it."

Nahin wasn't sure what to say to that. After what she had seen Agent Galen go through,  _I'm sorry_  seemed thoughtless. Whatever the Lieutenant had been through, whatever that incident was, it was comparable to the hell that was the hijacked Power Guard project. She wished she could remember the name of the incident so she could look it up. Asking the Lieutenant felt... wrong, somehow, as if she was invading his privacy. If she needed to know, he would tell her. She just wished that he thought that she needed to know.

***

Two hours later, Master Nahin found out the truth that Kira had been hiding from her, from Master Kiwiiks, from the Council.

She forgot all about the Lieutenant's mysterious incident in the time that passed.


End file.
